CFP: [Gender Studies] Queer African Studies

Recent book-length studies by Jarrod Hayes, Marc Epprecht, and Neville Hoadmay be said to have inaugurated the sub-field of Queer African Studies.This panel seeks papers that address the relationship of this sub-field toother fields within African studies. I am especially interested in papersthat focus on questions of methodology, and that analyze the relationshipbetween queer African studies and queer social movements in Africa.

Papers may address, but are not limited to,

1. What is the relationship between queer African and African feministapproaches?2. What constitutes a queer African archive? How is one assembled?3. How does queer scholarship intersect with activist groups such asSexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG), Gays and Lesbians in Zimbabwe (GALZ),and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK)?4. How do we redress the relative invisibility of lesbians, transgender,and intersex individual in current scholarship?5. What is the relationship between an African-focused queer studies anda Euro-American focused queer studies? What are the points of intersectionand divergence?6. How does a queer approach impact the field of African studies and howdo African studies re-shape queer approaches?

Please submit a one-page abstract and one-page CV to Keguro Macharia(kmachari_at_umd.edu) by March 9, 2009. Queries are welcome.